BoxingTalk: Ricky, how has this week been for you? Do you feel like a greyhound waiting to be let out of the traps?Ricky Hatton: A little bit. Training camp has been brilliant. I’m always excited a couple days before the fight. I start to get a little nasty streak in me, and I just can’t wait. If I step into the ring doing what I did in my training camp – it’s been my best training camp in my fighting career - I only see one winner, but I’m going to have to go through hell to do it.
BoxingTalk: Did it help you to be slightly away from the strip, to stay away from the hubbub a bit? Ricky Hatton: Yeah, absolutely. I didn’t go about it the right way when I was over here the last time. I spent two weeks in the casino, and as you know in Vegas, you spend a lot of time indoors. The air condition the way it is, the casino, and the oxygen flying about the air conditioning, I came down with a terrible cold the week of the fight. It went on fight night, but the after effect made me suffer in the last three or four rounds. I’ve now rented a house just up the strip, a bit more fresh air, a bit more open air, away from spending too much time cooped up indoors inside the casino, there’s been no end to good.
BoxingTalk: It’s almost a home away from home these days, isn’t it? You’ve must be seeing quite a few more familiar faces increasingly as the week has gone on.Ricky Hatton: It has. It’s Thursday so I think all the flights have come in really, so the majority of all the Britains who will be here are here now. I just got dropped off in front of the casino, and by God you can hear them already. It’s fantastic and I’m going to do them proud. It’s a massive fight, and that’s why 10,000 fans have come over from Britain to watch it, because they know how massive it’s going to be. I won’t be letting them down. I feel this is a big, massive performance. Probably the biggest performance of my career if you go by my preparation.
BoxingTalk: How will you fill the next 48 hours?Ricky Hatton: Just a little bit of light road work. Just be careful with my food and fluid intake in order to make the weight tomorrow. Coming over to Vegas with the heat the way it is I’ve been able to breeze the weight, I’ve been able to eat more and take in more fluids, so I’ve made the weight a little easier then normal. It’s just a question of getting the weigh-in out of the way, then carb up, then getting there and taking a stab at one of the top ten fighters in the world.
BoxingTalk: It’s going to be like facing a mirror image of yourself, isn’t it Ricky? Is that going to help you since you know what he’s going to bring?Ricky Hatton: Yeah, there’s plusses and minuses. I wouldn’t like to fight Ricky Hatton’s style. Who would want to fight a fellow who throws a lot of punches, comes forward with body punches, but I think he’s like me, very similar in many ways, style wise and everything, but to be honest I think I edge him in every department. I think I have better speed, better footwork, better boxing ability, better movement, I think I’m physically stronger, but having said that it’s about putting all the pieces together on the night, getting the game plan right, and just going about your business and getting the job done. The hardest bit is yet to come, but I keep referring back to my training camp, we couldn’t have learned any better.
BoxingTalk: You said you wanted to make everyone proud who has come over, but has the excitement of the fight made them proud, because they seem to be talking about it a lot?Ricky Hatton: I think so. I think the fights I’m involved in now seem to be more then just a boxing match, it seems to be an occasion. From the coverage I got back home, the whole country seems to know about Ricky Hatton’s fights, and the whole country seems to have traveled over to America to support me. Ricky Hatton versus Jose Luis Castillo is a massive fight, and I think everybody has come over to see this with bated breath because of how ferocious this fight could be.
M
Send questions and comments to: DNick@BoxingTalk.com
